Once Upon a Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge : Favorite Fictional Couples!

It's the first day of the Once Upon a Read-a-Thon!  Are you off to a good start so far?  I am excited to help kick off the read-a-thon with a two-part mini challenge today.   :-)  As I mentioned in my Reading List post, today happens to be my anniversary so my mind is on love and romance at the moment and this mini challenge is all about favorite fictional couples.

We are giving away two books featuring couples we love, and all you have to do to be eligible for both prizes is to post about your favorite fictional couple and a crossover couple that you would like to see.  A crossover couple is a pairing that brings together two characters from unrelated books.  You can post your responses on your blog, facebook, or twitter & then share the links to your responses in the Mr. Linky boxes below so that we can all stop by to read about your choices.  You are welcome to post about several of your favorite fictional couples and/or crossover couples, but each participant may only submit one link per mini challenge contest.  If you answer both questions in a single blog post, please share that link in both of the Mr. Linky boxes below so that you will be entered in each half of this mini challenge.  Thanks!  One winner will be selected at random  from each Mr. Linky list once the read-a-thon is over on July 14th, 2010 at 11:59 PM.  (Note:  This contest is international as long as the The Book Depository ships to your location.  You can check that here.)

Mini Challenge Part 1:  Post about your favorite fictional couple and enter to win a copy of Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder! 


A few of my favorite fictional couples include:
1. Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables
2. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice
3. Alanna of Trebond and George Cooper from the Song of the Lioness series
4. Clary Fray and Jace Wayland from City of Bones
5. Yelena and Valek from Poison Study

Favorite Fictional Couple Links:

1. Mrs DeRaps (DeRaps Reads) 2. Grace(Simply Grace) 3. Josh (iNinja) 4. Alessandra (Out of the Blue) 5. Ashley @ Ashley's Bookshelf 6. Alison (LostinBelieving) 7. Mel's Books and Info 8. Raelena (Throuthehaze Reads) 9. Nicole Hicks 10. Daniele (With A Book) 11. Emily (It's Just Life As I Know It) 12. Caitlin (Vision Quest Fail) 13. Sophia 14. Morgan (Smitten With Books) 15. Heather (A Bibliophile's Paradise) 16. Reading Angel 17. Christina at Books Are Life 18. Khelsea @ Once Upon a Review

19. Bev 20. Cass (GBU Book Reviews) 21. Diana (Books by their Story) 22. Proud Book Nerd 23. Andrea (A Chick Who Reads) 24. Margi Borck 25. Pure Imagination 26. Mystee {A Moment With Mystee} 27. April Nichole's Blog 28. Candaces Book Blog 29. Marissa Lynn ( Through the Radio) 30. Riv Re 31. toothybooks 32. Jan (Eating YA Books) 33. Patty (Yay! Reads) 34. Amy @ i heart reading 35. Beverly @ The Wormhole 36. Karen @ GHHS Library

37. McKenzie (The Book Owl) 38. Shari(My Neurtoic Book Affair 39. Cait (Escape Through the Pages) 40. Birdie (Feathered Nest) 41. Cade (Braintasia Books) 42. Caitlin (ScarrletReader) 43. Kailia (Reading The Best of The Best) 44. Kristen (Bookworming in the 21st Century) 45. Jessica (Confessions of a Bookaholic) 46. Ashley (Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing) 47. Veronica 48. Nina (JadorehappyEndings) 49. Kisha 50. Bianca (Wicked Good Books) 51. Truth Be Told Blog 52. Kate @ I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read! 53. Jada(Moonlight Reviews)

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Mini Challenge Part 2:  Post about a crossover couple you would love to see and enter to win a copy of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare!


A few crossover couples I would like to see:
1. Isabelle Lightwood from City of Bones & Nick Ryves from The Demon's Lexicon
2. Bertie from Eyes Like Stars & Puck from The Iron King
3. Maia from City of Ashes & Derek from the Darkest Powers series
4. Katsa from Graceling & Silas from Sisters Red
5. Claudia from Incarceron & Cassel from White Cat


Favorite Crossover Couple Links:

1. Amber 2. Mrs DeRaps (DeRaps Reads) 3. Alessandra (Out of the Blue) 4. Ashley @ Ashley's Bookshelf 5. Alison (LostinBelieving) 6. Raelena (Throuthehaze Reads) 7. Nicole Hicks 8. Caitlin (Vision Quest Fail) 9. Sophia 10. Melissa @ Mel's Books and Info 11. Heather (A Bibliophile's Paradise) 12. Reading Angel 13. Josh (iNinja) 14. Lizzy

15. Khelsea @ Once Upon a Review 16. Cass (GBU Book Reviews) 17. Diana (Books by their Story) 18. Andrea (A Chick Who Reads) 19. Margi Borck 20. Pure Imagination 21. Candaces Book Blog 22. Riv Re 23. toothybooks 24. Patty (Yay! Reads) 25. Amy @ i heart reading 26. Beverly @ The Wormhole 27. Karen @ GHHS Library 28. McKenzie (The Book Owl)

29. Birdie (Feathered Nest) 30. Cade (Braintasia Books) 31. Caitlin (ScarrletReader) 32. Kailia (Reading The Best of The Best) 33. Jessica (Confessions of a Bookaholic) 34. Ashley (Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing) 35. Nina (Jadorehappyendings) 36. Kisha 37. Bev 38. Truth Be Told Blog 39. Veronica 40. Kate @ I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read!

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Flower Friday - Gaillardia + Read-a-Thon Reminder

Gaillardia 'Fanfare'

This week's featured flower is - Gaillardia 'Fanfare'!  Also called 'Blanket Flowers', these bright, sunflower-like flowers bloom all summer long.  This perennial loves sunshine and blooms best in full sun with regular dead-heading.  Gaillardia can tolerate dry conditions and it is a fairly short plant (around 16" tall), so it is perfect for the front edge of sunny garden borders.  You can learn more about Gaillardia 'Fanfare' at Heritage Perennials or at Gaillardia Fanfare.com.

Read-a-Thon Reminder:

The Once-Upon-a-Read-a-Thon starts  Monday and anyone can join in, so be sure to stop by and sign up here.  We will be hosting one of the mini challenges here at The Eager Readers on Monday, and we'd love to have you drop by and participate.  We'll be talking about some of our favorite fictional couples and giving away a couple of awesome books!  :-)